How to make Halloween costume cupcake toppers

My favorite part of Halloween is the costumes! So I created an assortment of costume toppers for kids to “dress up” their cupcakes with at this year’s party! This blog will walk you through the steps of making four of these six toppers. However, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination!

Step 1: The first few steps for making the pumpkin topper apply for several of the other shapes. Roll a ball of fondant (about 3 inches across) until it is completely smooth.

Step 2: Hold as shown and use your thumbs to gently indent the middle of the circle while rotating the piece of fondant in your hands.

Step 3: Once the fondant is shaped into a hollow dome, place it on the work surface. Shape it between your hands using a rotating motion to smooth the outside and make it taller.

Step 4: Use a toothpick to indent vertical lines up the sides of the pumpkin.

Step 5: Fashion a small stem from brown fondant and attach with a dab of water. (I used my stick tool to create a small dent so the stem would fit snugly in place.)

Step 6: After the pumpkin topper has hardened for two hours, draw a face on with a fine, black food writer.

Owl Topper

Step 7: Follow steps 1-3 above to create a dome shape from white fondant. Make the indent inside the owl shallow so there is a lot of extra fondant to work with at the top. Use your thumb and index finger to fashion pointed ears. Use your thumbs to fashion large eye sockets.

Step 8: Use a toothpick to indent lines as shown in each eye sockets. Also, mark where the beak will go.

Step 9: Squirt a tiny dab of the white icing writer at the center of each eye socket and firmly press a black sprinkle in place as the eye.

Step 10: Fashion a flat triangular beak of the color you like and use your water pen to attach it in the beak area. An optional touch is to add a small flower above one eye.

Frog Topper

Step 11: Follow steps 1-3 to create a dome shape from green fondant. Again, make the indent inside the frog shallow so there is a lot of fondant to work with at the top. Use your thumbs to press upward two exaggerated eye sockets.

Step 12: Use a toothpick to create two nose holes and a large smile.

Step 13: Roll two small balls of white fondant and flatten them out to create eyes. Attach them with the water pen.

Step 14: Use the stick tool to place a small dent in each eye and squirt a tiny dab of icing writer in each.

Step 15: Firmly press a black sprinkle in each indentation. It is optional to add a tongue as a fun detail. I attached mine with water and propped a tool below it until it dried.

Tiara Topper

Step 16: For the tiara topper, start with a thick snake of grey fondant and roll it out medium thick.

Step 17: Use the rolling cutter to make the bottom and sides straight. Use the X-acto to cut out points as shown.

Step 18: Remove the excess fondant cut-outs from the points and place the tiara upright on your work surface. Glue the back seam together with water.

Step 19: Brush the tiara with a generous coating of pearl shimmer dust to make it look silver.

Step 20: It is optional to add an adornment of some kind (after all, this IS a tiara!) I used a Martha Stewart mold that I had in my toolbox to create a candy corn-colored butterfly. Be creative and use the tools you have on hand.

Any costume can be transformed into a small edible form, the sky’s the limit! Display your finished toppers alongside some cupcakes and let your little guests play with their food at this year’s party. They will never forget these dress-up cupcakes!

Reneé caught the cake decorating bug seven years ago when she made her son's first birthday cake. Since then, she's created hundreds of custom cakes and cupcakes. Her work has been featured on various baking and party blogs. In her free time, you'll find her planning the next baking project or sharing her knowledge on CakeJournal.